Surrey will have to compensate TransLink for the money the transit authority has already spent on the suspended Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail project.

Members of TransLink’s Mayors’ Council approved a resolution to that effect on Thursday, and also voted to have staff begin planning for a SkyTrain project down Fraser Highway.

Last month the council, at the request of the City of Surrey, suspended work on the planned $1.65-billion light rail line, which was fully funded by three levels of government and had been in the works for years.

TransLink staff came back with a work plan for proceeding with SkyTrain between Surrey and Langley, which was a campaign promise of Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum, who was elected in October.

The costs associated with the project — and its merits — were hotly debated by Mayors’ Council members.

A major issue was the money that TransLink has spent over the past four years planning for light rail, including preparing business cases, doing pre-construction work and procurement. The total cost of that work is $56.6 million.

“I have a number of concerns about the cost, and particularly about the costs that we are throwing away,” said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “If there’s one area where TransLink over the years has been criticized heavily … it is the entire question of cost containment and the wise use of resources.”

Brodie called on Surrey to pay back the money. The council agreed that Surrey would have to compensate TransLink for “all work plan costs unnecessarily expended to date” at the time the city signs a memorandum of understanding with TransLink for the new SkyTrain. A dollar figure was not attached in case the amount changes.

McCallum said the city can work with TransLink to come up with ways to cover the costs, such as providing land for the new project or doing some of the preparation work.

“It’s a pretty common occurrence when you have a regional board that’s building rapid transit,” McCallum told reporters after the meeting.

Mayors also discussed the fact that they had voted last month to work within the existing money set aside for light rail, which is $1.65 billion and staff’s belief that the entire project, from Surrey to Langley, cannot be built for that amount as the current cost estimate is $2.9 billion.

Instead it will make it to Fleetwood or Clayton Heights and a second phase will have to be done using part of the $1.9 billion in anticipated funding from the third phase of the regional transit plan set aside for South of Fraser rapid transit.

“The work that staff will do, in part, is going to identify how much SkyTrain we can build along Fraser for $1.65 billion. Part of their job is to ensure that they come back with a project that is a good transit project, that will be valuable for the region and that is a good use of funding,” said Mayors’ Council executive director Mike Buda.

“They will have to assume as part of that, that wherever that line ends after $1.65 billion that’s a good standalone project.”

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart likened building half of the SkyTrain line to constructing half a football field.

“I’m not sure the standalone project halfway to Langley is a valid project,” Stewart said.

West Vancouver Coun. Craig Cameron agreed with Stewart’s analogy and said more information is needed.

“I don’t think we can say based on what we’ve done up to today that a SkyTrain to Fleetwood would be a viable or worthwhile project for the region or that it would be the best use of the region’s funds, and yet here we are,” he said.

After the meeting, McCallum reiterated his belief — for which he has not provided any business case or studies — that the line can be built all the way to Langley for $1.65 billion. He bases his claim on the idea that costs can be reduced by building part of the project at grade and allowing construction crews to work around the clock.

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